After Sunday’s bonus point win over the Northampton Saints in Sale Sharks’ opening fixture of the new Gallagher Premiership season, Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson sat down this week to preview this weekend’s trip to Bath. Sanderson discussed the return of England internationals Jonny Hill and Tom Curry, Josh Beaumont’s return from an injury plagued couple of years and the learnings from the win over Northampton last weekend.
PROCESS OF BRINGING BACK ENGLAND INTERNATIONALS
“Player first, totally on them. I didn’t even call them up until they called me, as much as I wanted to, see where they are at after the summer tour. I just let them have as much time as they wanted, the 5 weeks. And then thereafter in terms of playing time I just let them come to me and both of them said they felt like they wanted to come back earlier than the mandatory or suggested 10-week lay-off. In each individual case there was an argument for them not playing as much as other players in the Premiership so it was first off player and then we took the player completely out of it and look at the physical demands on them over the course of the season and the number of minutes and starts they had. Obviously they went through the ringer in terms of our physios and the testing to make sure their physical markers were up there and that they were robust enough to potentially come back early and we have psychometric testing when people who aren’t in the managing structure here who converse with the players on a regular basis to determine whether or not mentally the say they are ready for the right reasons, not just because they want to please me or through peer pressure. So we go through quite a rigorous process there. Then we communicate with the RFU who go through a similar process and I have a chat with Eddie (Jones) so all of that is put in place, all of that information from six different groups of experts gets put onto the RPA (Rugby Players’ Association) and the RPA ring them (the players) up to make sure everything is correct. And then they are given the big tick or not. So it is quite a rigorous process, player-centred and it starts with the players’ want and desire to come back early.”
TOM CURRY’S CONCUSSIONS
“It wasn’t a one-off, that’s why he had a 12-week lay-off. The guys that look at brains are happy enough that’s a long enough time period for him to recover and for him to be as fresh and ready as he was before he started getting concussions in the Six Nations. So we haven’t talked about it because it is no longer an issue.”
LEARNINGS FROM WIN OVER NORTHAMPTON
“You would be in a good place if you cracked it in Week 1. I think we were excellent for 30 minutes, the 10 minutes before half-time and the 20 minutes after. Thereafter we lost the set-piece dominance we had so we were winning penalties in the scrum and using that as a means to apply pressure and gain territory. That went and for various reasons of the dark arts which I won’t get into we didn’t manage the game as well as what we did in the first 60 minutes. There were the big 3 things; game management, set-piece and our inability to put the ball in the right area in the last 20 minutes and just let them back in. So quite obvious fixes for us, it gives us something to focus on in terms of closing games out but if we are honest we weren’t overly impressed with our work-rate throughout the game so we think we can work harder.”
ATTACKING STRUCTURES AND INFLUENCE OF GEORGE FORD
“He (George Ford) has been a massively influence on that (the attack). The backs are taking it on a bit more and taking a bit of the pressure off the forwards. It just so happened that the space was there in this game for it to be a little bit wider and further from the ruck. In other games it might be that the space is a little closer. It is about identifying and using the ball, getting it into that right space. We have focused hard on our execution, in terms of our conversion rate 25 metres out from the opposition line.”
MANU TUILAGI
“We will take it week by week with Manu, we will look at his loading and see how he is feeling. I think by Manu’s standards he knows there is more in him so it is a case of him getting back on track, getting back on the field and get his game to the level that you know he can play at.”
Raffi Quirke is maybe 2/3 weeks away, post the Premiership Cup period
TOM ROEBUCK
“Like a lot of our young lads who broke through last year this is now their second year in and this season he is now more established. So I think you are going to see more from him. He wasn’t impressed with his game. I asked him in the corridor today ‘How are you going to stay grounded?’ and he was laughing. He said he was not that impressed and he reeled off 4 or 5 things he did wrong which is ace. It shows the humility of the man as well as the guys around him. He is still young, he has got all of the basics that you need as a winger; he is finishing well, climbing in the air really well and his defensive attributes were on point as well. There has still got to be more in him as well at 21 years old.”
CHALLENGES OF FACING BATH THIS WEEKEND
“Their performance last weekend showed their mentality, the muscle and the timing of their tactics brought over a Munster style coaching setup under Johan van Graan. He has brought in things that make teams hard to beat and that is a strong set-piece, a clearly defined kicking game with an intent at the breakdown which makes it difficult to get quick ball so if you have those things in place it is always going to be a closer game.”
GEORGE FORD’S SUPPORT FOR THE COACHES
“Yeah he does. The best players do anyway. We do look for feedback from him on sessions, post games. There is a little group that I have been meeting with to get their purely subjective observations on the game. He has an influence on a lot of what we do.”
JOSH BEAUMONT’S RETURN FROM INJURY
“We mentioned it on the field in the huddle after the game and he got a big cheer from the boys. There was more elation for him coming back than perhaps the result! He is so highly regarded, respected and much loved in this environment. I don’t know many people who could (come back from injury) after 2 years out and have the drive and face the high possibility that he could get injured again. To come back and want to give it that kind of a go and how good was he, he was brilliant; how he managed the line-out, his running lines and he didn’t look like he had been away at all, let alone 2 years. So he has gone up in my estimations and he was pretty high as it was.”
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